Apple patent app shows plans for location data

Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service |
April 26, 2011

A recently published Apple patent application indicates the company may have plans to collect iPhone user location history but it's not clear if the patent application is related to the recent discovery that iPhones and iPads store historical location information.

That idea is reminiscent of Microsoft's Kin Studio, which laid out a user's phone activities, including photos, videos, texts and call histories into a visual timeline accessible online. Kin Studio, which was only available on the failed Kin phones, did not include location data, however.

Apple did not reply to a request for comment about the patent application.

Since the O'Reilly presentation, Apple and other developers of phones and phone software including Google have been the subject of scrutiny from lawmakers and users. While Apple has not commented on the matter, Google has said that it allows users to opt in to location services and that users can turn off such services at any time.